615: Stop Chasing Sexy Businesses - This Boring One Made Me $500M+ | David Royce

It's not easy to admit when you're wrong, but you'll rarely find a better time than when you're filing for personal bankruptcy. That's what Tim Fargo of Tweet Jukebox had to do when he was a young man in 1991 and found himself a little too in over his head. But today he's the founder of one of the most exciting and innovative social media automation engines in the world, right after selling his previous company for $20 million. So how does someone go from bankruptcy to $20 million? Well, you do it by paying attention and learning from your mistakes, which is exactly why Tim is where he is today. He's experienced both the lowest and highest points any entrepreneur can go through and he's walked away from a better businessman and all the wiser for it. We're very lucky to share with you today this episode of the Foundr podcast, in which he talks openly about the lessons he's learned throughout his career and all the different pitfalls and traps you need to avoid. If you ever wanted to learn from someone with over 25 years of highs and lows in the world of entrepreneurship, you don't want to miss this one. In this interview you will learn: What it's like to file for bankruptcy and how to recover from it The do's and dont's of cash flow management How to keep yourself in check and on the right track when starting a business The key steps to growing your business rapidly What you can learn from going broke & much more!

16 Maalis 201650min

Gary Vaynerchuk is a bona fide Internet celebrity. At last count, he was sitting pretty at 1.21 million Twitter followers, and 226,000 Instagram followers. He’s appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, Ellen, CNN, and MSNBC. He’s now the CEO of VaynerMedia, a digital agency with more than 600 staff. Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur, investor, New York Times best-selling author, speaker, and, hailing from greater New York City, a fervent Jets fan. But his success all started with Wine Library TV, a video blog he started when YouTube was still a 1-year-old Internet debutante. From the start of his career, Vaynerchuk has mastered social media to draw attention to his online persona GaryVee, and since then has leveraged his fame to build success with over a decade of shrewd planning and execution. But there’s one secret to success that Vaynerchuk always comes back to. “The reason that I’m speaking to you is that I’ve worked harder than you.” These brazen words were uttered by Vaynerchuk during one of his many training videos. While it’s impossible to know just how true that is, this is a belief central to Vaynerchuk’s life. Hard work is everything. When discussing his success, the word hustle frequently bobs to the surface. “My hustle is better than everybody else’s,” he says, “so I have to bet on it. I bet on my strengths.” And despite living in an age of lifehacks and shortcuts, Vaynerchuk remains a staunch advocate of simple hard work. Armed with little more than his ball-of-fire personality and a will to succeed, he’s built an attention-hungry business empire worth millions. In this interview you will learn: The best strategies to leverage social media for your business What to look out for when it comes to creating the perfect social media strategy The secrets to creating valuable content and why it works How to take care of your employees and build long-lasting and loyal relationships The secrets behind each social media platform and how to take advantage of each one & much more! This podcast episode was brought to you by FreshBooks. When it comes to finding the perfect service to help you manage and track your invoices, time and expenses then you can't go past FreshBooks. Designed for the small businesses and entrepreneurs who don't need full-blown double-entry programming but still want to keep their finances in check, you can't go back once you start using it! Better yet, FreshBooks is offering a month of unrestricted use to all of Foundr listeners ­ totally free right now and you don’t need a credit card for the trial! To claim your free month, go to FreshBooks.com/FoundrMag and enter FoundrMag in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section to get started today!

9 Maalis 201638min

Every day there’s an entrepreneur out there who believes that they’ve found the golden ticket. The one idea that is so revolutionary that it’s going to change the landscape of their niche and bring them a huge success. Unfortunately, no matter how great of an idea it may be, nothing happens unless you have a brilliant plan to execute it. So where to start in this crazy startup world? Well, according to Gretta Rose Van Riel, it starts off with finding not just the right product idea but the perfect one. By using a bit of research, and a little bit more patience, she was able to find the type of product that took her to over 600k in revenue in just under a year! By utilizing Instagram she managed to spread her brand’s message and exposure, growing to over 15 million followers in just a few years! It is very rare you’ll find anyone else as savvy as the founder of SkinnyMe Tea when it comes to the world of e-commerce. In this interview with Foundr Gretta breaks down for us the nitty gritty details of the e-commerce world and shows us just what it takes to make it as a 21st-century entrepreneur. In this interview you will learn: Learn the easiest and cheapest way to build a website for your business Important Insights on how to use Instagram to help start, grow and build up your brand account Learn how to identify trends and physical products that you can successfully sell online How to get your perfect funnel for you to start selling immediately The do's and don'ts of E-commerce & much more!

1 Maalis 201656min

One type of entrepreneur we don't give enough credit to is the local business owner. While it seems that everyone in the startup world these days is trying to come up with the latest app, or next revolutionary SaaS, we often forget about that entrepreneur looking to create something on the ground. One of the biggest struggles for local business owners is finding a way to get their business out there. When you're running a brick-and-mortar business it can often feel like your options are limited when it comes to marketing and brand exposure. Ramy Georgy is about to change to way you think about local business. Ramy is a local dentist in Foundr's home base of Melbourne, Australia and today he runs one of Australia's most recognized and sought-after teeth-whitening clinics. The most impressive part? He achieved all of this within his first year of operation. By thinking creatively and using the power of Instagram and celebrity influence, Ramy has managed to turn his local business into an international one, proving once and for all that traditional and digital businesses don't have to live in separate worlds. In fact, when used together, you can produce some phenomenal results. In this interview you will learn: How Instagram works in turning your followers into actual clients for a local business Tips on how to sell your local product and increase your business internationally at the same The importance of having influencers on your side when taking on the global market Ways to start a business and be recognized in the dental industry Tips on choosing the right influencers to work with & much more!

23 Helmi 201638min

One common trait among successful entrepreneurs is a sense of urgency—spotting a need and responding without hesitation in order to address and capitalize on it, even when that means taking a risk. Deonna Monique is a prime example. As a consumer of hair extensions, she had long struggled with finding the right product, and what she saw as a lack of authenticity in the market. But when she realized through social media that the problem was much bigger than her own, she started a company. “I thought I was on to something,” Monique tells Foundr. “So a week after I opened my business, I quit my job. I just went for it.” Despite some serious tests of faith along the way, Monique stuck with her company Boho Exotic Studio, and ended up earning seven figures in that first year, she says. Now approaching three years in business, and she has a strong foothold, all with her chief channel of marketing being social media platforms like Instagram. Monique’s lack of hesitation, no-nonsense approach to connecting with her customers, and faith in the quality of her product and service, have added up to a stunningly fast ascent, all in the face of serious business and personal hurdles. In this interview you will learn: How to let your customer be the face of your company What to do when it feels like you've hit rock bottom as an entrepreneur The best ways to hack social media marketing to further your brand and grow your audience The perils and benefits of diving straight into building a business as a new entrepreneur The importance of looking past all the doubters and believing in yourself and your dreams & much more!

16 Helmi 201655min

No matter how you crunch the numbers, starting your own business is expensive. In fact one of the first crossroads moments you'll encounter as an entrepreneur, among many, is trying to figure where you're going to get that funding. Do you self-invest and bootstrap it? Or do you start talking to investors? Raj Sheth goes deep on that issue in our interview today, as he openly talks about how he and his co-founders funded their way to the top with Recruiterbox. Nearly five years since its launch, Recruiterbox is used by more than 1,500 customers, with next-level businesses like Groupon, Couchsurfing, and Crunchbase praising the SaaS that Sheth has created. In one of our most insightful interviews to date, Sheth talks about the lessons he's learned throughout his entrepreneurial journey, from being the founder of two failed startups, to using SEO as a source of customer acquisition. In this interview you will learn: Bootstrapping 101: How to start a software business on a tight budget The importance of having a well-rounded founding team Do's and don'ts of building any kind of software product Top strategies on how to utilise SEO with the right kind of content What to do to get your name out there and have top-level influencers and companies use your platform & much more!

9 Helmi 201652min

In just a few short years Steve Kamb has successfully created a multimillion dollar business by orchestrating one of the most intriguing communities online. As the founder of Nerd Fitness Kamb has positively influenced and empowered thousands of people in the world into living a healthier lifestyle. By looking past the stereotypes and the norm, Kamb has managed to break through the highly competitive fitness market and find a niche that was looking for the answer that only he could provide. However the key to his success? Being able to speak the language of his target market, in this case geeks and nerds. The average joes and desk jockeys who want to look like Captain America but aren't sure where to start. By putting his community first and realising that there's more to fitness than the latest bodyweight exercise, or the different flavours of protein, Kamb has managed to gamify fitness and, in doing so, win the loyalty of every member of his community. In this interview you will learn: How to start a multimillion dollar business in the online fitness industry Strategies on writing successful articles to target a specific market of readers and culture Not only the importance of an engaged community but the secrets to building one Ideas on how to start on writing and publishing your own self-help book Important health tips for the busy entrepreneur & much more!

3 Helmi 201648min

Finding the right startup idea is difficult even for lifelong entrepreneurs. But when it comes down to it, the best approach is to take a long hard look at what you're passionate about and try to figure out a way to share that with the world. By sharing her passion for graphic design to anyone who was interested, Melanie Perkins was able to become a certified tour de force in the entrepreneurial world. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, in just under two years her company has grown to 8 million users, is now valued at $233 million dollars, and has the backing of heavyweight investors like Guy Kawasaki, Bill Tai, and Lars Rasmussen, just to name a few. As the CEO and founder of Canva, Perkins knew that everyone had a little bit of an artist's streak inside them. The trouble was, the tools to bring that out were either too expensive or too clunky to learn. So she did what every good entrepreneur does. She made a product that took the complex and made it simple. Responding to the rapid expansion of social media and the growing importance of being able to communicate visually, Perkins has made it possible for anyone to pick up her product and start making visually striking images. With an eye for even loftier heights along with her keen eye for design, Perkins shares with us her lessons on how to turn your passion into a multi-million dollar success story. In this interview you will learn: The tools that you need to kickstart your own graphics design company The importance of finding and empowering the right people on your team for maximum results Why you need to fundamentally believe in what you're trying to achieve with your startup How to get people to use your platform and software in a crowded market What you need to do develop your team's focus, decision making, and leadership skills so your business works for you & much more.

26 Tammi 201634min